


before the fiddlers have fled

by helsinkibaby



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Comment Fic, Dancing, F/M, Het, Inaugural Ball, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:13:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5434400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At one of the Inaugural Balls, Ainsley has a request for Leo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	before the fiddlers have fled

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shao7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shao7/gifts).



> Theme song and dance  
> any. any. "Dance with me."  
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/675246.html?thread=89613230#t89613230
> 
> For Shao7, whose lovely comments inspired a re-read and reminded me why I loved writing these two!

Leo barely knows which inaugural ball this is - he lost count after two, and between schmoozing supporters both financial and political and keeping the President up to date with the situation in Khundu, he's got more important things on his mind. 

At least that's what he tells himself until the exact moment that he catches sight of Ainsley. 

Then all he can see is her.

She knows it too; he can tell from the tilt of her head, the slight smirk of her lips, the glint in her eyes that's invisible to all but him. He can tell from the way that she keeps her eyes on him, the same way that he's keeping his eyes on her, the two of them circling the room, circling each other like moths drawn to a flame. 

They meet at the sidelines, stay a proper distance apart, two co-workers talking, nothing more.  

Until she looks across the room and says, "I think you should dance with me."

He blinks, startled, because the whole point of a clandestine relationship is that it's just that, clandestine. Dancing together in front of a room full of Washington movers and shakers is hardly that. "Ainsley-" he begins, but she cuts him off. 

"I know what you're going to say." She keeps her voice neutral, her face calm, but he can hear the plea in her voice, knows she's going to hate herself later. "It's not a good idea.  And I know it's not. But we're here, and you're in a tuxedo and I'm in this dress that was painstakingly altered to show me off to best effect-" Which, he thinks, was a job well done; whatever she paid the dressmaker was money well spent. "-and I figure I have about thirty minutes tops before I have to take off these shoes and I just really, really, want to dance with you. Just once." 

Somewhere in the middle of that, her voice moved from pleading to wistful, and that's probably the time that he made up his mind.  "You think you can keep up with me?" he asks her, a genuine smile coming easily to his lips, growing wider when he sees the shock of his words register on her face. 

"You mean-" Shock quickly gives way to happiness and he extends a hand to her, grins when she places her hand in his. 

"It's been a while," he says, "but I think I've got a few moves I can show you."

She giggles, drops her voice as he leads her to the floor. "Where have I heard that before?"

He smiles and shakes his head. "Later," he promises as they step into a waltz and she follows his lead, fitting into his arms like she was born to be there.  

The dance is over too soon, of course, and he's off again being Chief of Staff, but when he looks back on the night, those few minutes are his best memory. 


End file.
